[yshavurah] [Fwd: Fwd: Fw: A Letter From New Zealand - A MUST Read]
- From: "Elliot Gaines Ph.D." <elliot.gaines@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: yshavurah@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 01 Jul 2002 11:24:27 -0400
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>
>
> worthwhile to read thoroughly,
>
Elliot
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Subject: Fw: A Letter From New Zealand - A MUST Read
> Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 12:11:48 -0400
> From: "Joyce and Herb" <thediamonds@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Whittier, Pete & Barbara" <pebacape@xxxxxxxxx>,
> "Weinstock, Joyce" <Sevenjoys@xxxxxxxxx>,
> "Weinberg, Ellis & Jeanne" <Jeanel2@xxxxxxxx>,
> "Taube, Marvin & Sandy" <Marvsan@xxxxxxx>,
> "Shaw, Bernard & Sydelle" <sybs@xxxxxxxxx>,
>
> "Ruskin, Ed & Ruth" <theruskins@xxxxxxx>, "Rear, Norma"
> <Norherb@xxxxxxxxx>,
>
> "Meyers, Bob & Edie" <Meyersre@xxxxxxx>,
> "Katz, Jerry & Addie" <jer-ad@xxxxxxxxx>,
>
> "Kaplan, Marilyn" <hermar1@xxxxxxxxx>, "Barkin, Henrietta"
> <barkolt@xxxxxxx>,
>
> "Albert, Jean & Sam" <SJAlbert@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> ----- Original Message -----From: MORKAP@xxxxxxxxx:
> undisclosed-recipients:Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2002 12:58 PMSubject: A
> Letter From New Zealand - A MUST Read A LETTER TO THE PALESTINIANS
> FROM NEW ZEALAND
>
> This letter is an outstanding piece of writing from a man in New
> Zealand who claims to be an agnostic. I could only hope that every Jew
> and every Christian throughout the world understood the issue as well
> as he does! PLEASE - read it - print it out - keep it for future
> reference - forward it to everyone you know!
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> An Open Letter to the Palestinians from an Agnostic Date: Sun, 26 May
> 2002 18:03:29 -0700 > Speaking Truth to the Powerless:
> An Open Letter To The People Commonly Called "Palestinians".
>
> Greetings to any Palestinian who may be reading this. My name is David
> White. I am a citizen of New Zealand, a small, Western, nominally
> Christian country in the South Pacific Ocean. I am not Jewish, or
> Christian, I guess I'm vaguely
> agnostic.
>
> Writing this letter is a good way for me to discuss the horrible mess
> in the Middle East, spell out as many relevant points as possible
> concerning the state of the Palestinian people, and to see what can be
> made of them I don't speak Arabic, so I can only communicate with
> English-speaking Palestinians. There aren't many here in NZ, though,
> and I haven't yet met any. I don't know how many will ever see these
> words, but, here's hoping someone does.
>
> I have a post-graduate university education, and I suppose I could be
> called an intellectual. Unfortunately, many such people have supported
> abhorrent ideologies such as Nazism, and continue to support
> Communism, so I refuse to describe myself in this way. I don't want to
> considered as just another "trendy leftie" academic, as we would say
> in NZ. So, unlike many university-educated types, I am
> anti-totalitarian, pro-peace up to a point,pro-democracy,
> pro-capitalism (except the capitalists running Enron), and skeptical
> about the "cult of victimhood." I'm quite safe here in New Zealand,
> and no-one I know has been killed by a Palestinian.
>
> My perspective of Palestinians is something like this - you're Arabs
> (of course), mostly Muslim, but with a Christian minority. Many of you
> live outside Gaza/West Bank, mostly in Jordan and other Muslim
> countries, with some groups living in Western countries as well. You
> feel that you have been wronged by Israel and are fighting to destroy
> them.
>
> As for my perspective on Israel, I see them like this. They are a
> mainly Jewish, small, free-market democracy with a large Arab minority
> surrounded by hostile Arab dictatorships. They have an ancestral claim
> to Israel, their state was created as a refuge from persecution, they
> have a right to exist, and, having survived a holocaust in Europe,
> they should not have to sit still and wait for another one in the
> Middle East.
>
> A Down Under Overview.
>
> Over the last few months, the conflict in the disputed territories of
> Gaza and the West Bank has turned into a war between the Palestinian
> people and Israel. (I will not apologise for using the term
> "disputed", as I believe it reflects a rather
> complicated situation more accurately than "occupied").
>
> Your interpretation, as far as I can tell, seems to be something like
> this: You have no state of your own, and you are fighting a war
> against those you call "Zionist oppressors" and "colonial
> imperialists", in order to create a Palestinian state.
> Accusations of massacre and human rights violations by the Israeli
> Army are being tossed around like confetti. Your leader, Yasser
> Arafat, vows to "martyr" himself rather than "surrender", and that
> bungling and incompetent organization,
> the United Nations (again, no apologies for venting personal
> opinions), is trying to do what it is constitutionally incapable of
> doing, i.e. "saving future generations from the scourge of war".
>
> The Israelis see things differently, of course. For them, it's a
> simple battle for survival. They offered you a state, and you attacked
> them instead. They have occupied Palestinian towns, have fought it out
> with various armed groups, and desperate attempts are being made by
> the US, other Arab countries and the UN to break the so-called "cycle
> of violence". As a result, the Palestinian situation at the moment
> generally, can be explained by putting it into New Zealand idiom.
>
> Put bluntly, the Palestinian people are buggered. Munted. Stuffed.
> Rooted. (American equivalent=screwed. British equivalent: done over).
> It's like this: Yasser Arafat turned down the Israeli offer of a
> Palestinian homeland in Gaza and the West Bank. You want, or Arafat
> claims that you want, a Palestine "from the river to the sea;" in
> other words, "all or nothing".
>
> There is one insuperable obstacle to this- Israel. No matter how
> eloquent your arguments or numerous your martyrs, no matter how many
> European diplomats are angered by, or UN resolutions are passed
> against, Israel, the Israelis are not
> going to pack up and leave. The only way you will get the Palestinian
> state you want is to destroy Israel.
>
> This is what you have been trying to do since 1948, and the current
> "intifada" launched in 2000 is your latest effort. However, the
> Israelis are not standing there and letting you kill them. They are
> fighting back, and if they have to choose
> between their own survival and yours, guess which choice they'll make.
>
> A Vast Wringing Of Hands, A Great Fluttering Of Diplomats. That has
> been the overall response to the disaster you have created for
> yourselves. You, the Palestinian Arabs, are obviously hoping for some
> kind of international intervention to save you. As we in New Zealand
> would say, "Get Real!".
>
> The European Union and the UN have demonstrated on numerous occasions
> in the past their incompetence and total incapacity to take any sort
> of firm action without American leadership. Ask your Muslim brothers
> of Bosnia-Herzegovina,
> about how effective the EU and the UN were in protecting them without
> American intervention. In spite of the impression that American
> diplomatic efforts have created, the US will not take sides against
> Israel, and will eventually abandon its futile attempts at
> evenhandedness. If they do join forces militarily with Israel in their
> war against terrorism, your fighters will be snuffed out like candle
> flames.
>
> As for your "beloved Arab brothers" in the Middle East, they make a
> great deal of noise about your "liberation struggle", and have sent
> money and arms, but have not sent a single tank to save you. Their
> diplomatic proposals are ones that could have been offered at any
> time, and are aimed at benefiting them, not Palestinians.The Egyptians
> themselves will not declare war on Israel unless they receive $100
> billion to cover their costs.
>
> Do you really believe that the rest of your Arab Muslim brothers think
> you are worth that much? Do you really believe they will put your
> interests ahead of their own? Although your friends and Arabs in
> Europe are passing sanctions and
> burning synagogues in your support, not a single EU warship has sailed
> to your aid, and not a single NATO aircraft has dropped a single bomb
> on your "Zionist oppressors".
>
> I have noted that large numbers of people, including university
> educated intellectuals support the Palestinian cause. Don't be misled
> by this. No matter how many western intellectuals, news media and
> international organisations may support the Palestinian struggle, none
> of this matters because America stands by Israel.
>
> The Unbearable Burden of Life
>
> How did you get into such a mess? As you yourselves would say and have
> indeed said on many occasions, it isn't your fault. It's always the
> "Great Satan" America, and it's "Lesser Satan", Israel, that you blame
> for all your woes. Everything that you do, such as your "martyrdom
> operations", are described as the products of your "rage" at being
> "dispossessed of your land", and of your "helplessness" in the face of
> "Zionist" might.
>
> There are only 300 million Arabs against over 5 million Jews! How
> unfair! How unjust, that so many can do so little against so few!
>
> A number of Western commentators have put Arab failures down to
> numerous cultural factors, not the least being Islam. Your religious
> beliefs in martyrdom and jihad, coupled with a total inability to
> accept any blame for your own predicament, have combined to do you
> great and lasting damage.
>
> Look closely at why Western countries such as Israel have succeeded,
> and Muslim countries have not. Western countries are free-market
> democracies. Muslim countries (other than Turkey) aren't. Surely that
> should tell you something.
>
> Why I Stand.
>
> As I said, I do not, and I will not, support the Palestinian cause.
> Why not? I have a number of reasons, and here they are:
>
> 1. You have made it clear beyond any shadow of doubt that you intend
> to destroy Israel and kill or drive out its Jewish population. This is
> genocide, pure and simple. You justify this by saying that Israel has
> committed many crimes against
> your people, and that you seek "justice". I say this in response-
> NOTHING WHATSOEVER is an acceptable justification for genocide. Loss
> of land, humiliation at being militarily defeated - others have
> suffered these and moved on to create new nations and opportunities
> for themselves.
>
> Examples abound- the Germans thrown out of East Prussia in Europe,
> 1945, the Nationalist Chinese who fled to Taiwan in 1949, to name but
> two. Germans and Taiwanese have coped with military defeat and the
> loss of land. They haven't
> warred with their neighbours, nor have they launched terrorist attacks
> upon them. Both countries have more wealth than any Arab nation. Why
> can't Palestinians cope? Are Germans and Chinese better able to deal
> with adversity than Arabs?
>
> 2. You have accused the Israelis of "genocide" against you. Here's a
> question for you: Israel has atomic bombs and powerful military
> forces. If they really, truly wanted you all dead, they could easily
> do it. Why haven't they? If the Israelis
> went all-out, you would be, as we say in New Zealand, "dog tucker".
> Why did they spend so much time negotiating with your leaders? Because
> Israel wants peace and secure borders. You refuse to give them even
> those. You plan genocide and accuse Israel of the same crime. Prove
> it!
>
> 3. The use of terrorism. Killing people for being Jewish is
> despicable. Terrorist attacks on innocent civilians are also
> despicable. (At this point, I'd like to pause and get a question of
> nomenclature cleared up, regarding those Palestinians
> who kill themselves and others with explosives strapped to their
> bodies. You call them "martyrs". Western media sources and academics
> debate the precise term to use in describing them. Others, including
> the Israelis, call them terrorists.
>
> I have a better, more appropriate term. I prefer to use the word
> "kamikazes". The original kamikazes appeared in 1944, in the war in
> the Pacific. They were Japanese Navy and Army pilots,organised into
> "Special Attack Units" with orders to crash their planes into American
> warships, in the hope of destroying them - "one plane, one ship".
> Their initial impact was similar to that of the Al-Quaeda attacks on
> New York and the Pentagon- shock and horror. (I noted that many
> Palestinians appeared on Western TV celebrating the September
> attacks). Note: The American response, in both cases was not the one
> hoped for.
>
> Once the shock had worn off, the US set out to destroy the kamikazes,
> and terrible destruction was rained down on Japan, ending only with 2
> atomic bombs. You know what is happening right now in Afghanistan to
> the Al-Quaeda group).
>
> 4. Using children as suicide bombers. Anyone who teaches children to
> kill themselves in suicide attacks is not worth supporting under any
> circumstances. For you to do this to your children is an abomination.
> A commentator on a Web
> magazine said that if the Palestinians laid down their arms, they
> would get peace and land. If the Israelis laid down their arms, they
> would be killed. You know that is true, even if most of Europe
> doesn't. Your cause is evil, because it seeks
> destruction at any price. Genocide is not justice. Sacrificing your
> own children for the sake of your leader's personal ambitions is
> wicked.
>
> That's why I cannot support you. That's why I stand with Israel.
>
> Palestinian Past or Future?
>
> The Second World War in Europe ended with Hitler's suicide. He was
> replaced by Admiral Doenitz who quickly made peace with the Allies.
> Japan's leader, Emperor Hirohito, decided on surrender rather than see
> his nation destroyed.
>
> If Arafat chooses surrender, though, will the rest of the Palestinians
> go along with it? If he dies, will the war end? If the answer to both
> of these questions is No, then the Palestinian people are doomed. Do
> you really prefer death as a people?
> Do you fully comprehend what you are doing? If you are indeed aware
> that the path you have embarked on leads to destruction, and if you
> have freely chosen to walk in that direction, then as a people you are
> truly beyond hope.
>
> Are Palestinians really going to be a "Kamikaze Nation"? Are you
> really going to give Israel no other option except your destruction?
> If they must choose, then as Israeli historian Martin Van Creveld
> said, "better a terrible end than terror without end".
>
> Do not think that kamikaze tactics can get you what you want. The
> Israelis can tell you all about Masada, if you ask them. Remember what
> happened to the Japanese at places like Okinawa and Iwo Jima.
> Palestinians deserve better than the current mess you are in now - but
> before you can be given anything, you must offer a sincere peace, you
> must stop teaching your children to hate, you must stop believing that
> "victimhood" justifies everything and - above all other things - GIVE
> UP ISRAEL! Accept that you will never go there again except perhaps as
> workers or tourists. Accept that Jews are human beings. Accept the
> verdict of 1948 and learn to live with it.
>
> Invest in banks, not bombs. Build computer chips, not Kalashnikovs.
> Teach science and mathematics, not hate. Look to the future, not the
> past. Stop blaming Americans and Jews for all your problems, and take
> responsibility for your own actions. Read those parts in the Quran
> about living with the "peoples of the Book".
>
> Golda Meir, the former Israeli Prime minister, is quoted as saying "
> there will be peace in the Middle East only when the Arabs love their
> children more than they hate Israel ". Every time I see pictures of
> Palestinian children waving guns and
> wearing dummy explosives, then I can only say she is right. The
> alternative to peace is not victory but death.
>
> Think about it- before it's too late.
>
> From an Infidel to Those Who Submit, and are living in the Holy Land -
> May God grant you steadfastness in the face of things that cannot be
> changed, the capacity to cope with those that can be changed, and the
> wisdom and the ability to tell the difference.
>
> David White
> Auckland, New Zealand
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> I suggest you send this on to your entire e-mail list. H.F.
>
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